Nn Woman Aims To Tote Gun In Purse

Nra Assists

NEWPORT NEWS — Helen F. Smith, a 65-year-old widow who was recently mugged in front of her East End home, wants to pack a gun in her purse. But the judge says no.

So Smith has enlisted the National Rifle Association to help.

Smith says her Wickham Avenue neighborhood is a high-crime area that has become infested with drug dealers and other unsavory characters.

FOR THE RECORD - Published correction ran Friday, June 14, 1991. An article on Wednesday's front page incorrectly reported that a Newport News woman who has been denied a permit to carry a concealed weapon recounted her story in court Monday. She spoke at a press conference.

To emphasize her point in court Tuesday, she held up her right arm and noted that she has a pin in it because of an injury suffered this year during a scuffle with a would-be purse snatcher. While admitting that she may not have had time to get a gun out of her purse during the attack, she said she might have gotten a shot off as her attacker ran away.

Smith went to court to appeal a judge's decision denying her the right to carry a concealed weapon, but her hearing was postponed. Thomas M. Moncure Jr., an NRA staff lawyer, said he will stick with the case - at no charge to Smith - even if it has to be appealed to a higher court.

A former legislator from Stafford County, Moncure said his goal is to get a written opinion from a Virginia appellate court that NRA lawyers can use as a precedent in fighting future denials.

Under state law, most citizens can carry a gun in public as long as it is in plain view. In February, Smith applied in Circuit Court for a permit to carry a hidden weapon.

``What lady wants to carry a gun in the open?'' she explained Tuesday. She said she did not want to carry a gun all the time, ``certainly not to church. I'm a lady.''

Virginia law states that judges shall issue concealed-weapon permits if the applicant ``is of good character,'' can show a need to carry a concealed weapon, is physically and mentally competent to carry a concealed weapon and is not prohibited by other laws from having a weapon.

``When asked how she would handle an adverse situation, Ms. Smith indicated that she planned on scaring the attacker off by firing the gun,'' the report to Stephens states.

One of the people she listed as a reference, police Lt. Carl Burt, is cited in the report as saying Smith ``is acting out of fear and is not emotionally capable of handling a concealed weapon, or any weapon.''

On her application, Smith said she received training for firing a handgun while she lived in another state in the early 1970s.

Stephens denied the request on April 22 ``on the grounds applicant has not demonstrated she is emotionally or physically capable of handling a handgun.''

That decision was not made in open court, which is standard procedure. But after Smith contacted the NRA for assistance, Moncure asked for a special hearing so Stephens could hear Smith in person, as well as an expert to testify that she is capable of firing a weapon.

The case was postponed because Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Dennis H. Duncan wanted Burt present to testify, and he was out of town.

Moncure said Smith's is one of four denial cases in Virginia he has been involved in. He has not prevailed in any of the cases so far, and is now asking the state Court of Appeals to hear one of them.

(The NRA selects a few cases across the state in which it feels a judge has unreasonably denied a permit to carry a concealed weapon, he said.)